Student Stories
Find out what it's like to take an HBS Online course from current and past learners.
Find out what it's like to take an HBS Online course from current and past learners.
Getting the perspective of a problem from various departments brought more solutions to the forefront that could be explored.
Harvard Business School Online is one of the best things I've ever been a part of. Proud to be an alumni of two HBS Online programs, and looking forward to more. HBS really got it right with this.
The content and its delivery was spot on for understanding business stages and funding series. I learned a lot of that information in undergrad, but HBS Online’s platform thoroughly delivered and presented the content with amazing examples from real-life startups. Hearing their struggles to success was encouraging, and I was engaged during each video.
The course’s content and teaching method through case studies and practical examples was remarkable.
I now have a better understanding of sustainability and which companies are doing it right. I’m armed with talking points proving that sustainability is good for business, the environment, and its people.
I feel like I have an unfair advantage now knowing what I've learned from this course. It has given me confidence and clarity in my decisions, and I can already see the material impact of applying this model and mindset to our business and our culture.
Meet Gaurang, a CORe participant and avid football fan who is applying CORe to his day job and entrepreneurial pursuits.
As someone that does negotiations as part of my job, I found Professor Wheeler’s Negotiation Mastery course to be both thorough and valuable. This course provides fresh insight and best practices to help maintain ethical standards, while creating and claiming greater value in future negotiations: whether you will be buying or selling a home, getting a new job, working with international business partners, or anything in between.
My certificate gives me a competitive advantage and the opportunity to contribute to the success of my company in a unique way. Moreover, a Harvard certificate opens news doors wherever I choose to work in the world.
Professor Wheeler's course gave me a new and profound perspective on negotiation. Whether I am trying to convince my daughter to go to bed on time, discussing a contract with a manufacturer, or organizing large scale military exercises with thousands of troops and dozens of aircraft - deftly employing the right negotiation technique can be the difference in success or failure.
I majored in engineering and minored in economics as an undergraduate, but the content of Business Analytics and Economics for Managers showed me new ways for using the theoretical foundations I already had.
The way Business Analytics blended numbers with the impact on business forecasting and improvement of business processes was simply amazing. The real-life cases from different spheres made the learning more insightful. The subject further helped affirm the power of data/numbers in analyzing and forecasting about a particular business initiative.
…it was a great experience being able to interact with so many intelligent students all over the world…it's a perfect combination of teaching from the professors and help from all of your classmates.
I found the overall CORe experience to be…challenging, enjoyable, eye-opening.
My MBA was great, however, in five weeks we did not cover nearly as much content as with CORe, so this was a quintessential supplement.
I feel like now I can speak more high-level about where we want to take the company and what strategic initiatives we want to put in place….It has given me an entirely new set of tools.
Thanks to Business Analytics, I learned to apply statistical analysis to real world problems. For instance, I am currently doing a research project using regression analysis to see if we can predict emergency department demand on any given day - important for staffing and resource allocation.
We are at a time in history where we need leaders now more than ever. Someone who has CORe on his or her resume is a leader, in my mind.
One of the most insightful components of this course was the detailed case studies on other companies that had similar challenges... The diverse perspectives that I got from my peers, which the learning platform enables, were very similar to those I get with my work environment.
The course, through its excellent design, has given me an approach and the confidence to deal with disruption either as an opportunity or a business risk.
This was an excellent course with concepts that were immediately applicable to my consulting business.
HBS Online was an invaluable and essential education. The information provided, the quality of the presentation, and the high-level engagement among students surpassed my expectations.
Mihir Desai was able to bring a relatively dry and inscrutable page of numbers to life in a highly engaging and interactive way. He has a great teaching style: clear, sharp, entertaining, and challenging. Mihir was able to truly engage our leaders of all levels of financial experience on the key levers of performance and how this applies to their own businesses.
In an ever fast-changing world, it is important to keep abreast with how people around the world tackle finance-related issues and the experiences they go through.
Executives from Intuit reflect on their experiences in Disruptive Strategy, an online course taught by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen.
The subjects taught in CORe are brand new for me. This first week has been a real challenge. Yet, that is part of the fun.
An excellent course: world-class content, perfect delivery, excellent and diverse cohort, and finally wonderful collaboration with both the organizers and the class.
If you have no formal education in business, this program will dramatically change the way you think…The combination of subjects covered will give you the fundamental knowledge to think deeper about what it takes to run a successful business, how to win in the marketplace, and how to make decisions as a manager.
My favorite part of the program was interacting with my cohort members where I received valuable shared experiences, feedback and was able to be a thought partner around strategies and best practices in varying scenarios.
CORe was much more than a tripod of rigorous courses. The sense of community that developed from all the various social platforms that were unique to Harvard Business School Online that provided me the platform to interact with other students from all over the world in various industries were instrumental in my application and understanding of the concepts.
After summarizing what I learned from this program, I introduced finance in a 90-minute class to junior and senior college students in order to show them different ways of doing business plans in the leisure and sport domains.
I feel confident and prepared by the ‘science’ of startupland while also appreciating—and being more prepared for—the art of it.
By recognizing that every student brought with her or him a wealth of lived experiences, HBS Online empowered me to learn much more from peers than I had imagined.
Through CORe, I have uncovered a love for analytics, made valuable connections with people in several countries, and gained a strong foundation that will serve me well in MBA or PhD studies, which I am considering for the future.
Participating in the student discussions and answering cold calls was empowering. It ignited a drive within me to learn and absorb as much as I could.
I felt the course covered a good overall scope and understanding of healthcare economics and would be beneficial for anyone seeking or needing a greater understanding of the stakeholders and forces at work in the healthcare sector. This applies for those new to healthcare as well as those who have worked in the industry for long periods of time.
An excellent course that covers many aspects of launching a tech startup.
Reading a balance sheet was completely alien to me. Since taking Financial Accounting, I’ve been keeping track of my company’s annual reports, and the accounting that I learned helps me in understanding where the business may head in the future. I’ve also been tracking a few other companies for investment purposes, and I’ve realized that I can make more informed decisions with my improved knowledge of company financials.
Meet Holden, a CORe participant who took the program to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
Taking Entrepreneurship Essentials was an incredible opportunity to learn from the best and to be in a class full of great minds.
I am using some of the negotiation preparation techniques from the course in different aspects of my job. Overall I feel more confident in situations that might have once felt intimidating.
CORe goes well beyond the basics, but it isn't overwhelming. The classes are structured in a way that each lesson builds on the lessons before to reinforce everything you've learned. CORe also provides you with real world examples that illustrate the concepts. It's one of the most impressively organized programs I've ever been a part of.
Don't lose hope. These courses helped change my career trajectory, and I hope they do wonders in your life as well. In the end, it'll be all worth it.
The excel I learned from Business Analytics has become useful as I started working as a data analyst for an economic research firm, BMI Research. The techniques I learned make it easier to comprehend the more complex functions. In addition, the integrated learning I took from the case studies allows me to apply “total analysis” in my everyday work and assessments, which is in fact the core business of my company.
The People, Opportunity, Context, and Deal framework is now in the back of my mind. Also, I have learned how to quickly assess and network with other companies and panelists at the hundreds of meetup events I've attended.
Each course provided distinguished knowledge and presented that in a beautiful manner.
Professor Wheeler helped me to change the way I think about negotiation. Negotiation can be complex and chaotic, but if you seek to understand and embrace that chaos instead of fearing it, you can achieve outcomes better than your expectations.
The cases were phenomenal. I got engulfed in the videos; they made you feel like you were in sort of a planetarium, right in the tea fields in Asia, learning about the dangers of palm oil. And hearing from the executives at huge companies about their strategies solving their problems was amazing.
I believe all of the courses prepare people for the business world, but more than that, they put the student in the boss's chair, offering concepts and examples, but also demanding quick and deep answers and solutions along the way.
If you're looking for more information on how Harvard Business School Online programs can teach you the essential skills you need for success, request more information today.